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  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Tom Koi's Avatar
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    Little Tour Today

    Firstly to Gatwick Koi, then to Koi Water gardens in Sutton, then Koi Waterbarn.

    Can't wait for my pond to be up and running so I can purchase some fish, a few nice Nisa or Jumbo Tosai, Kohaku, Sanke, Showa, Gosiki Goromo,Octiba Kujaku, Matsuba, Shusiu and Asagi, plus a few other varieties whose names I can't remember, build up nice and slowly though.

    Mrs likes the Pucunia silver fish, Im not fussed myself.


    Last edited by Tom Koi; 16-08-2019 at 11:39 AM.

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  3. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Koi View Post
    Firstly to Gatwick Koi, then to Koi Water gardens in Sutton, then Koi Waterbarn.

    Can't wait for my pond to be up and running so I can purchase some fish, a few nice Nisa or Jumbo Tosai, Kohaku, Sanke, Showa, Gosiki Goromo,Octiba Kujaku, Matsuba, Shusiu and Asagi, plus a few other varieties whose names I can't remember, build up nice and slowly though.

    Mrs likes the Pucunia silver fish, Im not fussed myself.
    I have a decent sized purachina and I am not into plain coloured fish. Funny my wife loves it.


    Sent from my BBF100-1 using Tapatalk
    Built not bought!

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  5. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion Ajm's Avatar
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    Had one and lost it . I liked mine like

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    Freddyboy the legend

    "we are water keepers first"

    Johnathan

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  7. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Ajm View Post
    Had one and lost it . I liked mine like

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    I like it but I'm a go sanke kinda guy. Views are changing though.

    Sent from my BBF100-1 using Tapatalk
    Built not bought!

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  9. #5
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion Ajm's Avatar
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    I dont think I've found a type that's my favourite if I see some that I like then that's it

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    Freddyboy the legend

    "we are water keepers first"

    Johnathan

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  11. #6
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Tom Koi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ajm View Post
    I dont think I've found a type that's my favourite if I see some that I like then that's it

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    I like most of the different varieties, but Im not a lover of single coloured fish, the scaley looking ones are my favorites, yrs ago it was the sanke's, but I'm not sure that the choices we got now were around 25/35yrs ago

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  13. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Tom Koi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dave_vr6 View Post
    I have a decent sized purachina and I am not into plain coloured fish. Funny my wife loves it.


    Sent from my BBF100-1 using Tapatalk
    My Mrs likes it as its got silvery looks, looks white to me though

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  15. #8
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    We had one too a lovely pure white gin rin Purachina but sadly lost it as it liked to jump, most people commented on it, my wife's favourite too at the time, I liked it as well, It always looked bright and vivid against the black background...… Steve.

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  17. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Tom Koi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartin View Post
    We had one too a lovely pure white gin rin Purachina but sadly lost it as it liked to jump, most people commented on it, my wife's favourite too at the time, I liked it as well, It always looked bright and vivid against the black background...… Steve.
    You should have clipped his wings Steve
    Jokes aside its no fun losing fish whatever the circumstances and especially one that's a favorite.

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    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Sim's Avatar
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    Gatwick have got some nice koi Tom, I stopped off there in the week.
    He's moved alot of new koi into the shop that last couple of days too, I missed out on them.

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  21. #11
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    What was your favourite of the 3 you visited Tom?

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  23. #12
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Tom Koi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RS2OOO View Post
    What was your favourite of the 3 you visited Tom?

    Oooh that's a question and a half, I like Gary and I will buy fish from him, but its Koi Waterbarn its exceptional.

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  25. #13
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Koi View Post
    Oooh that's a question and a half, I like Gary and I will buy fish from him, but its Koi Waterbarn its exceptional.
    That's interesting.

    Demonstrates that the KWB big budget build does what its meant to do.

    Personally I was massively impressed with Koi & Water Gardens, the place is huge and full of little rat runs leading to more and more tanks and shoe dips / bio security between each entry and exit. I have only bought one Koi from them and its quality and growth has been phenomenal. I believe they supply fish to a lot of Dealers and Koi outlets. Their fish are expensive compared to Gatwick Koi but they also have higher overheads. Despite this sole purchase I get whatsapp messages from them now and again, asking how my Koi are, or showing me pictures of koi (and Goldfish) in japan where they remembered my interest from my first visit. Excellent customer service.

    Gary knows his stuff, very very knowledgeable. Can be a bit difficult when you first get to know him as he tries to suss out if you're a timewaster or not. A few times he's mixed me up with customers that keep ringing him asking stupid questions, saying things like "I've already told you this the last 3 times you phoned me", Then I say, "Gary, I haven't rung you for nearly a year", and he's like "Oh, sorry, thought you were someone else", then he's nice as pie! This has happened more than once!
    He's quite big on social media and I think when he does receive negative comments they play on his mind. When I buy a fish from Gary I have 100% confidence that it will be "clean" and healthy, although everything I've bought from him has been a bit on the skinny side. I mentioned this to him and he said that's just coincidence as almost every Koi I've bought from him has come from tanks with new immature filter systems so he hadn't been feeding as much as other tanks.

    Koi Water Barn....I've bought a few things from them, including all my pipe fittings, bottom drain, air pumps, liners etc. They also know their stuff and have written Koi books and stuff. They don't heat ramp which I think is a mistake, and the 3 cheap Tosai Koi I did buy from them were covered in Flukes. They went off and scraped a few out of the tank and came back and told me they definitely didn't have any flukes. Thing is, those were the first 3 fish I ever put in the pond so they can't have come from anywhere else. I also felt it was a bit clique with all the attention being on big spenders on open days and stuff. Admittedly I've never made the effort to go and say hello, but at the same time my presence has never been acknowledged. They did a raffle ticket koi auction once and I wanted to put my name down for a few Koi (deadline was 11am, I asked at about 11:05am) and I was told it was too late which I accepted. Saw some photos at the end of the day and noticed loads more peoples names had been entered the auction well after this time, some as late as 1pm. One of the Koi even went unsold. I complained, they apologised and offered me ฃ50 voucher to use on the unsold Koi. I declined the voucher as I'd already gone to Gatwick Koi and bought the Koi I wanted from him instead.
    Last edited by RS2OOO; 17-08-2019 at 12:07 PM.

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  27. #14
    Senior Member Rank = Nanasai Handy Kenny's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Koi View Post
    Firstly to Gatwick Koi, then to Koi Water gardens in Sutton, then Koi Waterbarn.

    Can't wait for my pond to be up and running so I can purchase some fish, a few nice Nisa or Jumbo Tosai, Kohaku, Sanke, Showa, Gosiki Goromo,Octiba Kujaku, Matsuba, Shusiu and Asagi, plus a few other varieties whose names I can't remember, build up nice and slowly though.

    Mrs likes the Pucunia silver fish, Im not fussed myself.
    Tom,

    Funnily enough I think my tastes have changed in the few years I have been in the hobby. I have always loved Kohaku, Goromo, Shusui (i.e. blocky distinct colours) as I think that was what first attracted me many years ago but we have a few other varieties as well, my wife seems to like mono coloured fish as well so we added a few of those (Karishigoi, Purachina and others) and now I really like them as well.

    Kenny

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  29. #15
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Tom Koi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RS2OOO View Post
    That's interesting.

    Demonstrates that the KWB big budget build does what its meant to do.

    Personally I was massively impressed with Koi & Water Gardens, the place is huge and full of little rat runs leading to more and more tanks and shoe dips / bio security between each entry and exit. I have only bought one Koi from them and its quality and growth has been phenomenal. I believe they supply fish to a lot of Dealers and Koi outlets. Their fish are expensive compared to Gatwick Koi but they also have higher overheads. Despite this sole purchase I get whatsapp messages from them now and again, asking how my Koi are, or showing me pictures of koi (and Goldfish) in japan where they remembered my interest from my first visit. Excellent customer service.

    Gary knows his stuff, very very knowledgeable. Can be a bit difficult when you first get to know him as he tries to suss out if you're a timewaster or not. A few times he's mixed me up with customers that keep ringing him asking stupid questions, saying things like "I've already told you this the last 3 times you phoned me", Then I say, "Gary, I haven't rung you for nearly a year", and he's like "Oh, sorry, thought you were someone else", then he's nice as pie! This has happened more than once!
    He's quite big on social media and I think when he does receive negative comments they play on his mind. When I buy a fish from Gary I have 100% confidence that it will be "clean" and healthy, although everything I've bought from him has been a bit on the skinny side. I mentioned this to him and he said that's just coincidence as almost every Koi I've bought from him has come from tanks with new immature filter systems so he hadn't been feeding as much as other tanks.

    Koi Water Barn....I've bought a few things from them, including all my pipe fittings, bottom drain, air pumps, liners etc. They also know their stuff and have written Koi books and stuff. They don't heat ramp which I think is a mistake, and the 3 cheap Tosai Koi I did buy from them were covered in Flukes. They went off and scraped a few out of the tank and came back and told me they definitely didn't have any flukes. Thing is, those were the first 3 fish I ever put in the pond so they can't have come from anywhere else. I also felt it was a bit clique with all the attention being on big spenders on open days and stuff. Admittedly I've never made the effort to go and say hello, but at the same time my presence has never been acknowledged. They did a raffle ticket koi auction once and I wanted to put my name down for a few Koi (deadline was 11am, I asked at about 11:05am) and I was told it was too late which I accepted. Saw some photos at the end of the day and noticed loads more peoples names had been entered the auction well after this time, some as late as 1pm. One of the Koi even went unsold. I complained, they apologised and offered me ฃ50 voucher to use on the unsold Koi. I declined the voucher as I'd already gone to Gatwick Koi and bought the Koi I wanted from him instead.

    Which Koi watergardens RS ?

    https://www.koiwatergarden.com/

    https://www.koicarp.org.uk/koi_water_garden.htm

    Koi Water Garden - Newly Quarantined Stocks ยป Nishikigoi.Life
    Last edited by Tom Koi; 17-08-2019 at 06:55 PM.

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  31. #16
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Top and bottom link you posted is the same place that I'm referring to.

    Never been to the middle one, its getting into Northern territory up near Watford so will probably never go

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  33. #17
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Tom Koi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RS2OOO View Post
    Top and bottom link you posted is the same place that I'm referring to.

    Never been to the middle one, its getting into Northern territory up near Watford so will probably never go
    The one in Sutton?
    Went there Thursday, plenty of fish for sale and plenty of offers on as well, after reading you praises about the place, its got to be worth another visit, its just knowing what to choose

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  35. #18
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Yes the one in Sutton.

    Think they have 2 retail premises but I've only been to the main quarantine facility which I'd imagine is far better than the retail places due to the vast size of it and the quantity of fish they have.

    I believe they use well water with a PH of 6.5 and it is worth bearing this in mind when acclimatising their fish to your water. My PH is 8.2 and the Koi I bought from them acclimatised very quickly and was stuffing her face by the following morning.... And has continued to do so ever since, now looking like a rugby ball!

    This is the Koi I bought from them on the day of purchase, its a new variety called a Kirin, will take an updated photo shortly but its put on at least 10cm since April:


    Last edited by RS2OOO; 18-08-2019 at 11:56 AM.

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  37. #19
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Tom Koi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RS2OOO View Post
    Yes the one in Sutton.

    Think they have 2 retail premises but I've only been to the main quarantine facility which I'd imagine is far better than the retail places due to the vast size of it and the quantity of fish they have.

    I believe they use well water with a PH of 6.5 and it is worth bearing this in mind when acclimatising their fish to your water. My PH is 8.2 and the Koi I bought from them acclimatised very quickly and was stuffing her face by the following morning.... And has continued to do so ever since, now looking like a rugby ball!

    This is the Koi I bought from them on the day of purchase, its a new variety called a Kirin, will take an updated photo shortly but its put on at least 10cm since April:


    Thanks for that, I've been to the two shops now, Sutton seems a bit cramped didn't see the QT facilities.
    Thats Cracking looking fish

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  39. #20
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    The Sutton QT facilities place is where the pics in this article were taken, but is a lot bigger than even these pics imply:

    Koi Water Garden - Newly Quarantined Stocks ยป Nishikigoi.Life

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